Indiana lawmakers are postponing a committee meeting on potentially removing the permit requirement for carrying firearms, but that doesn't mean the proposal is going away.

The panel was scheduled to meet Thursday — a week and a half after the mass shooting in Las Vegas — to discuss the proposal. Instead, the meeting was delayed until the end of the month.

Study committee chair Sen. Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, said they just needed more time to address everyone's concerns and come up with ideas everyone could get behind.

"Maybe it's not perfect to be trying to decide (permitless carry) when there are funerals, but that really doesn’t have anything to do with pushing it back," Bray said.

Nationally, gun restriction advocates have hope federal lawmakers now will regulate the “bump stock” devices the Las Vegas shooter used to quickly shoot hundreds of rounds, killing 58 people and injuring 489.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said Congress needs to look into the potential regulation of the devices. The National Rifle Association disagrees with Congress addressing the issue through legislation, but the organization said it's OK with the executive branch more stringently enforcing regulations on the sale of bump stocks.

But what effect, if any, the shooting in Las Vegas will have on gun laws in Indiana — and specifically the permitless carry proposal — is unclear.

Senate leader David Long, R- Fort Wayne, declined to make an official comment on the issue and House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, did not respond to a request for an interview. Stephanie Wilson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Eric Holcomb, said he would look to "legislators and others" for their recommendations on gun regulation.

"Constitutional carry is not among the governor’s priorities heading into this legislative session," Wilson said. "That said, he respects the process and will look to the recommendations that result from the summer study committee to help inform his decision-making process."

Indiana's gun-friendly climate

Indiana's Republican-dominated legislature has built a reputation for expanding gun rights.

Nearly 16 percent of Hoosier adults had a carry permit in 2016, securing Indiana's spot as the No. 2 state with the highest percentage of permit-holding adults, according to the Crime Prevention Research Center. More than 815,000 Hoosiers have a permit today.

Still, some Indiana Democrats for years have tried to introduce more stringent gun restrictions. Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis, for the past four years has proposed requiring those apply for a carry permit to receive some firearms training. Not once has it made it as far as even a committee vote.

On the other side of the aisle, it's a different story.

This past legislative session Holcomb signed two Republican-sponsored gun-related bills into law: one that allows certain state employees to carry firearms into the Statehouse and another that allows victims of domestic violence to carry a handgun without a permit.

The latter received bipartisan support, including from some Democrats critical of permit-less carry proposal.

Beth Sprunger, state chapter lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in Indiana their group is largely focused on speaking against laws that would remove gun restrictions.

She isn't sure how much the Las Vegas shooting would change the debate in Indiana.

"It would be great if we could start presenting more sensible legislation," Sprunger said, "but right now we just want to keep what we have in place."

The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gives Indiana a "D-" when it comes to the strictness of the state's gun laws, but still places the state in the middle of the pack in terms of how stringent Hoosier gun laws are.

Robert Dion, political science professor at the University of Evansville, said if the committee were meeting prior to the mass Las Vegas shooting, it would have been a "straightforward affair" in a pro-Second Amendment state such as Indiana.

"Indiana is definitely a pro-gun state and the Republican super majority is very clearly aligned with those who oppose gun control, so the odds are good that this will get a favorable hearing," Dion said. "But having it happen too soon after a terrible mass shooting, it makes the optics look bad."

How likely is constitutional carry?

Even in an NRA-friendly state such as Indiana, however, the prospects of a permit-less carry bill remain questionable.

House Speaker Bosma, the lawmaker largely responsible for setting the House's agenda, previously said he didn't see the point in permit-less carry.

"I think our current gun laws are properly protective of the Second Amendment, and I don’t see that we need to have changes, but that’s just me personally," Bosma said prior to the start of the last legislative session.

Various law enforcement agencies have spoken against the measure, saying it could weaken public safety by removing the vetting process to legally carry a firearm.

Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, has pursued the legislation unsuccessfully for the last three years. After the 2017 session, however, caucus leaders agreed to study the topic in a study committee — a more favorable sign for the proposal.

Lucas also has also routinely pushed for legislation that would allow for guns on college campuses and other public property. Neither proposal made it out of committee.

Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis. who criticized the study committee on social media in the days after the Las Vegas shooting, refers to Lucas and the other lawmakers pushing for the legislation as the "worst kind of extreme."

"I have been pro-Second Amendment but Jim Lucas is so extreme that his bills are not only misguided, but are dangerous," Forestal said.

If the study committee recommends legislation enabling Hoosiers to carry firearms without a permit and the bill passes in the General Assembly, Indiana would join 12 other states that already allow permitless carry.

Currently to get a carry permit, Hoosiers pay either a one-time fee of $100 with an Indiana license or $40 for four years, an amount Lucas considers to be a burden on some citizens. Indiana State Police can deny a license for various reasons, including certain drug and alcohol violations and felony or domestic violence convictions. Last year, 4,802 applications were rejected.

"Those individuals would be out in the community carrying handguns if in fact they weren't denied that application," said Rob Wiley, past president of Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police in opposition to permitless carry. "Our opportunity to reduce the number of those individuals who are out carrying guns who are not, as the law says, a fit person to do that is increased by our opportunity to vet that individual proactively at the beginning of the process."

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Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, is shown during the Indiana House of Representatives' one-day organizational meeting for the 2013 session at the Statehouse on Nov. 20, 2012.(Photo: Indianapolis Star)

In a permitless system, Lucas emphasized those violators would still be prohibited from carrying a handgun under the law.

"This bill is necessary because the Constitution guarantees our right to keep and bear arms," Lucas said. "The state is forcing innocent people to fill out lengthy forms."

He said lawmakers shouldn't avoid talking about gun laws because of the recent shooting.

"When something like this happens, people believe the government can just pass a law and this will never happen again," Lucas said. "No matter how much you outlaw something, bad things can happen."